Morning journal and courier., 1887-02-15

Delivered Last Evening Before Ihe Court of Common Council-rhe City's Condition - Various RecOmmenda. tiOns And Suggestions.
 Below will be found the annual message in full of Mayor Samuel A. York as delivered before the joint session of the aldermen and councilmen last evening.
 To the Honorable Court of Common Council of the city of New Haven;
 I havescalled you together this evening for the purpose of making fews suggestion rel ative to the administration of the city gov ernment. The history of the city for the ! last municipal year will be found in the re- ports of the officials connected with the sev- 1 eral departments, and l shall not deem 1t necessary to do more than refer you to these | reports, except in 8 few cases. Those re- ports show how much the city has expended l and what the amount was expended for. | It will be your duty to take up | this work of extending and l improving the city where your predecessors 1 left it and to continue 1t.
 l The first matter to which I wish to call | your attention is that the financial burden l of the city is great and not diminishing. The | increase of the city during the year ending ! December 1, 1885, was $47, BOT 59. The total | indebtedness of the city at that date, after 1 deducting cash assets and sinking fund bonds, was $63S, ,276. Is. The indebtedness of the city on the first day of December, 1886, mak- | ing the same deductions, was $6SO, ,3S3. 7o, | showing an increase during the year of S42, l 1O7. .62 Of course you all know that there
 have been extraordinary demands on the city l treasury during the last few years. Extensive | and expensive improvements have been made or commenced, sewers have been built, streets | laid out widened and paved. East Rock Park has become ornament to the city, and free public library is about to be open l ed The city's growth has made it necessary l that we should have paved streets, better @1, fr11l equipped fire department Wa all want the city to do all that is necessary, so that 1t may continue to grow and attract people looking for comfortable homes.
 l While this is true, the times are such as to demand at your hands the strictest economy. A debt is burden to city as well as to an individual. The money which we spend this year must be raised in some way, that is, by taxing ourselves or borrowing. Public sen timent, in nay opinion, Is decidedly opposed to any additional taxation. Borrowing Is merely postponing taxation to future day when the city may or may not be better
 able to bear the burden. There is very little
 justice in making one generation pay the
 debt of another, when each year brings new enterprises new ideas, new inventions
 and new demands. Take an illustration.
 A few years ago and there was scarcely any
 obstruction in our streets from wires. The
 telegraph companies had few wires
 
 business firm had private wire running
 to its office. But the telephone and electric
 light have changed this so that the streets in
 the center of the city are already network
 of wires and the streets are more or less ob-
 structed with large and unsightly poles. And the change has apparently only just com menced What shall be done with the wires | may become in short time question which this city u-,ill LoVe to solve. UT course It will be said that this is a question which md aif while this is true it still illustrates the point | that with new improvements and new inven l tions come new demands. We may not be | able this year to pay as we go, but let us | hope that we may soon reach that condition, | feeling sure that the burden of those who | come after us will be large as they will | care to bear.
 While on this subject would suggest that | this occupation of the public streets by the | poles of the telegraph, telephone and cleo | tric light companies is one which, in my l opinion, should receive early attention at your hands. There are already pending in | the legislature two measures which, if passed, will give two companies the right l to use our streets and parks. If the whole | matter were referred to committee with in l structions to inquire and report to the | best method of conducting electricity | through the streets, and especially whether
 any system has been fully tested and proved satisfactory, much good might result.
 But still better illustration of the impor- | tance ot present economy will be found | when we consider another matter, which must necessarily have your attention. When l the Hartford and New Haven and New York
 and New Haven railroads were built, New | Haven was 8 city with about one quarter of ! it's present population. As the city extended and grew travel increased on all it's streets, l including those which crossed the tracks of 1 these railroads, new streets were opened and | the railroads put additional trains, and | increased their speed so that the grade cross | ings, which twenty or thirty years ago were merely inconvenient, became dangerous. We | have already commenced the work of bridg | ing these crossings and in a | few years it is probable
 that there will rot be grade crossing Ill the | city limits. What the expense will be it is ! impossible to estimate with any degree of l accuracy. We have built with the railroad one of these bridges-I refer to the Lam berton street bridge-with the following re- | suit, viz;
 Share of expense of bridge paid by city, | 15,901.37; damages from grade changes.
 $1 ,525: total cost to city to date $17, ,426. 37. | And other claims for damages are still
 pending. I am informed that there are
 twenty-nine grade crossings in the city linn | it's, and if the cost of the other bridges soon | to be built should not exceed that of the |
 upon to expend about $500, ,000. But the av-
 craze cost will probably be very much 1 greater. There are already more or less | urgent demands for bridges on Chapel, Mea- | dow and Water streets and at the crossing to | the Steamboat dock, and in each of these | cases the damages from change of grade will probably largely exceed the cost of the Lam l berton street bridge. Other streets crossing
 the several railroads will probably be opened | if the city continues to grow, and where this 1 item of expense is to end no one at present 1 can foresee. This matter of grade crossings l and bridges over the tracks of railroads is l one which ought to interest every citizen of l the city, and brief glance at the legislation ! on this subject is worthy of attention. The act incorporating the Pennington canal pass ! ed at the May session of the legisla- | ture, 1922, provided f'that said corpora ! tion shall build and keep in good repair | suitable and convenient bridges over said canal in all places where said canal shall ! cross any public highway or road, and also | where new roads shall be built for public ! use.' Vol. I, L 303, section 9. When the New Haven and Northampton company was | formed It was provided that said company | should received the franchise and assume the | responsibilities attaching to the Canal com pany, and that whenever 1t should be neces- | sary for the construction of the railroad to ! intersect or cross any road or highway, it | should be lawful for the company to con I 4OeSA
 that said company should restore the said
 road or highway thus intersected to its for
 mer state so as not to impair it's usefulness.
 The act incorporating the New Haven and
 New London railroad company passed in ! 1S48 contained similar provision.
 In 1844 the New York, New Haven and | Hartford railroad company had been incor- ! porated with the same provision, and it was I further provided that after said route of said
 railroad shall have been finally established as | aforesaid said corporation shall construct | that part of said road within the limits of ! the city of New Haven under the direction of | the Court of Common Council of said city. | Thus it will be seen that in these days of railroad legislation the theory seems to have
 been that the railroad companies were te
 construct their roads in such way as net to
 impair the usefulness of the highways, which
 belonged to the public, and that the whole ! expense of such construction, including the
 bridging of the highways and the tracks,
 should be borne by the companies.
 | In the revision of 1854 it is pro. Y vided that whenever it shall be neces 4 sary for the construction of 8 railroad
 to intersect or cross any public road or high | way or street it shall be lawful for the cor. ! poration to construct said railroad upon o1 \ across the same. provided the commissioners